1.What is Mono Mono is a project started by Miguel, to port .NET framework to Linux. Its now in 1.1.9 version of its release and it rocks. You can take advantage of .NET framework using C#,Python,Visual Basic,Boo and may more languages. Check out : http://mono-project.com/Main_Page

2.What is Tao Tao is basically a OpenGL implementation that can be used from a managed environment like .NET.